Good gunsmith for 1952 Zastava M57 ?

[Gregorio]

I have what looked like a vgc Serbian made 'Tokarev' M57; made in 1952. It fires 7.62 x 39 - IF it fires; which mine hasn't even once since I purchased it. I cannot see anything 'obviously' wrong when I look inside the gun; I've had a more experienced friend who often builds guns look at it twice; he can't figure out what's wrong with it either.

Does anyone know of a good gunsmith in the Detroit area ( - preferably West side) that may likely be able to get this thing working for me? I don't want to take it anywhere that they may not have familiarity with these older Eastern Bloc guns. Thanks. - Greg

[dwcopple]

7.62x25 is what it should fire. Try using the right ammo. 7.62x39 shouldn't even fit.
remove the firing pin and clean the cosmoline out of the channel with mineral spirits and a toothbrush. Those guns only have like 25 parts to them and are stupid simple to detail strip and clean.

[joepistol]

If you don't want to try dwcopple's suggestion, I recommend taking it to Doug Jones (acc-u-rail.com)
Doug works on a fair number of old & unusual guns, pretty sure he can tell you what's wrong, or fix it for you.
his shop is in Rochester Hills, very near M-59 & Crooks road.

[Gregorio]

Yes, 'DW' - I meant 7.62 x 25; I have an SKS that fires the x 39; my mistake.

- My friend that builds guns did a lot of cleaning of parts when he worked on it; I sat there watching him clean out more cosmoline than I would have guessed was even there. It didn't seem to help. There's problems getting the slide to work - the 'add on' safety switch doesn't always move correctly - and it still won't fire. We've spent hours looking it over - just can't tell what's wrong with it.

[wolfy]

Don't most folks remove the add on import safety since they don't work well anyway?

[dwcopple]

Pull the add on safety and knock out the mag disconnect too

[Gregorio]

I took it to a gunsmith, who said that a small flange over the end of the firing pin had been put on backwards. My friend said he put it on the same way it was when he took it off when he changed the springs on it. Maybe - because again, the gun wouldn't fire from the day I got it.

Now, when a round is chambered, the guide rod does NOT remaining sticking out in front anymore like it ALWAYS did before. The safety switch seems to move correctly also.

I haven't got to try to fire it again yet - just got it back yesterday. I'll post again after I take it to the range; probably next week. Thanks to all who tried to help! - Greg

[Gregorio]

Follow up - I took the Zastava M57 to the range a couple days ago - it fired a couple mags of ammo with no problems whatsoever. Powerful gun with that ammo!